Fraternizing with the Enemy
by emilycheyenne625
Summary: Draco and Hermione were never friends, but meeting up years later can change things
1. Chapter 1

Fraternizing with the enemy

Chapter 1

As Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Luna took a stroll down Diagon Alley one night, they passes a quaint little pub

"Harry, lets go get a butterbeer!" Ginny said as she pulled on Harry's arm and grabbed Hermione's hand. Ron and Luna quickely followed behind them. They grabbed a table on the far end of the pub and sat down. Harry and Ginny walked over to the bar to order all their drinks.

A song came over the pub. it was quite loud song. The place sounded and looked like a club on one side. It had a dance floor and some pretty coloful lights illuminating the floor and room. and on the other side, it was a nice, little pub. Luna stood up and yanked up Ron from his seat.

"Lets Dance!" Luna giggled "it'll make you feel young again"

"were only 20 years old!" ron joked as they entered the dance floor.

Harry and Ginny finally came back with the butterbeers when they saw Ron and Luna on the dance floor. As they sat the drinks down, Harry took Ginnys hand and started leading her to the floor too. Hermione was sitting at the table when Harry turned back to her and said "are you going to be okay just sitting here?"

"I'll be fine. im gonna go sit at the bar for a bit." she told him back as she gathered her purse with her.

"Okay but by the end of the night, we'll have one dance. i'm sure Ginny wont mind" he sent her a smile as he walked onto the dance floor.

Hermione sat her purse down on the counter of the bar while she sat on one of the stools. As she sifted through her purse, she came across an old picture of herself and Ron right after the final battle. They had shared a kiss that she couldnt forget. She put the picture on the counter upsidedown trying to forget the memory of Ron and her relationship. while she finished off the butterbeer Harry had bought her, she had asked the bartender to get her a Firewhiskey. once that was poured and in her hands, she heard a voice from her past she was not expecting to hear. His slurred speech made it hard to tell who it was at first, but soon she realized it wasnt a person she wanted to talk to.

Hermione turned to this man, who was very sloppy. His blonde hair hung in his face and his grey eyes were wide.

"Granger! Long ti-time no see." Draco Malfoy had said to her before he took a barstool next to her. He looked very drunk and Hermione didnt know what to do.

"Malfoy. Didnt expect you here." Hermione couldnt even look at him

"Yeah well not much else to do on a Friday night." He had now turned to face her. Hermione saw him out of the corner of her eye and figured she would atleast look at him while he was talking.

"There's things to do." she said coldly. "You just decide to get drunk."

"Yeah well i can do what i want. So how have you been?" he asked her as she thought to herself: "_why does he care? he's never cared before._"

"i've been fine. I'm here with Harry and the guys." she turned to point at the group dancing.

"So the Golden Trio is still together. I thought you guys would go your separate ways soon." he was still looking at her, watching her every move.

"Well we dont spend the time together like we used to. Harry and Ginny are engaged. Ron and Luna have started..." she trailed off and picked up the picture off the counter

Draco could now see what she was looking at. The picture was just them two. The way they loved each other when they were teenagers. The tears in Hermiones eyes started to well up, but not one drop fell from her face.

"Dating i'm going to take a guess?" Draco had now had locked eyes with Hermione.

"Yeah," she had a hard time finishing the word. "Dating"

Insead of asking anymore questions, they just sat in silence for a couple seconds. The tears in Hermiones eyes had now started to dry up, and she took another sip of her Firewhiskey. The song in the pub slowed down a bit. Draco stood up and help out his hand to Hermione.

"would you care to dance?" he asked her in the nicest way he could.

As she pondered the different responses to the question, she followed her heart to accept this request.

"Why not." She took his hand as he led her to the dance floor. He was more steady on his feet now. He pulled her close, put one hand on her lower back and one hand in her hand as they began to dance to the music.

Across the pub, the rest of the group had sat down at the table. All had started drinking their butterbeers, when Harry noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Hermione? She was sitting at the bar." He scanned though the bar and the people around it. Eventually he saw a familar head of blonde hair dancing with a curly brunette girl. He knew that it was Draco and pointed it out to his friends.

"Is that Draco Malfoy?" Harry nudged Ron who turned his head to look at the man.

"Yeah, but who is he dancing with?" Ron joked. "who would want to dance with him, anyway?"

As the couple turned slowly, Harry and Ron finally noticed who was dancing with Draco. Hermione looked up at Malfoy and she was saying something to him.

"Bloody Hell!" Ron exclaimed. "Why is she dancing Malfoy?"

Harry felt his blood boiling when he saw them dancing.

"I think we need to get Hermione away from that ferret." Harry now felt his hands ball to fists.

"Guys, you gotta relax. Do you really think she would dance with him for no reason?" Ginny tried explaing to Ron and Harry. "She knows how to handle herself. She'll be fine."

"But she's dancing with a Death Eater!" Ron tried to yell at his sister. Instead it just came out as a loud talk.

"Like i said, she knows how to handle herself." Ginny was finally able to calm the boys down.

"I dont get it. Why are you being so nice?" Hermione asked Draco as they danced on the floor.

"Because I realized, right after the final battle, that what I said to you and did to you and your friends was wrong." He said right back to her, as he gazed into her brown eyes. "I was raised to believe i was better then everyone else, so i put myself above everyone. And to tell you the truth, since I'm confessing and apologizing, i had a little schoolboy crush on you back in school."

"A crush? i dont believe you one bit" She told him as he tried to explain his actions.

"Its true. but i couldnt tell anybody because it would ruin my reputation." His smirk from his childhood was growing on his face. "My friends would have made fun of me for liking a mudblood, so I hid it by making it seem like i hated you."

Hermione hated the term 'mudblood'. it sent chills down her spine whenever she was called that or when it was even said, especially from Draco Malfoy.

"You know i hate the term 'mudblood' right?" she asked him hoping he wouldnt use it anymore.

He got down close to her ear to whisper something to her.

"Yeah, well what if I called you a mudblood right now? What would you do?" he asked her, making his smirk grow.

Hermione pulled away for a second, but Draco pulled her back to him for her to answer.

"I would call you a bastard and walk away." She could look at him while she said that so she wouldnt have to see his reaction.

"Well its a good thing i didnt, did I?" he got her to look back at him. His smirk now had changed into a grin that started to grow when she started to grin along with him.

The song had ended and the pair had separated slowly. They walked back to the bar where they had started to talk again.

"So Granger, why are you sitting in a bar with an old enemy when your friends are sitting right across the room?" He had asked her, thinking out loud.

"Because im in a converation with you." she had told him, answering the question. "Why do you still call me Granger? Why can you use my first name?"

"Because Blaise and Pansy are right over there, and if they thought i was having a normal coveration with you, with no insults, then they would flip on me." As he told her this, Hermiones face drained of color. "I have a reputation to maintain, and if i get caught talking to a mudblood, then im done."

There's that term again, Mudblood. There was no word she hated more then Mudblood.

As she picked up her purse and the picture that was still on the bar, she got up from her stool and started to walk away. Draco grabbed her wrist, not hard but enough to let him talk to her first.

"Why are you getting mad? I have to keep up my image or things will get difficult for me." He tried to explain it to her.

"You know i hate the term 'Mudblood', yet you still use it." She started to raise her voice to him.

"i need to keep up appearences." As much as he tried to explain it, she didnt want to hear it. "Your just as stubborn as ever! Your not even listening!"

"I am listening, and its loud and clear that being seen with me would make your life hell. And I would rather be stubborn rather than prick!" Hermione had said and she yanked her arm back, and walked back to the table of her friends.

"What was goin on with Malfoy over there?" Ron had asked her as she gathered the rest of her things. "Where are you going?"

"Home. And to answer your first question," she finished picking up all her belongings while she said "nothing. He's just being the typical egotistical, self-absorbed bastard that Malfoy has always been."

She glanced over at the corner booth where Draco had now gone to sit. Almost as soon as she looked to see him watching her, Hermione turned her head back to the front and left the pub for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

chapter 2

After a long and confusing night, Hermione liked the silence of her tiny one bedroom flat. She had decorated it like her childhood home. The tan walls were covered with pictures of her parentsand her friends with herself. Above her fireplace was an empty frame next to a picture of herself, Harry, and Ron at graduation. The picture that was sitting in the bottom of her purse hung in that empty frame not too long ago.

Hermione was feeling very tired, but she knew she couldnt fall asleep yet. So she went into the kitchen and put on a pot of tea. While she was doing this, the nights happenings were running through her head. So many questions came to mind that she couldnt even think straight anymore.

_Why did Draco ask me to dance? Is he so embarresed to be seen with me? Why would he even talk to me? If he's changed, why would his old reputation even matter?_

The questions were just endless.

She grabbed the kettle and poured herself a cup of tea and set in on a saucer she pulled from a cabnet. She the walked to the balcony where she would always come to think. The fresh air would clear her head and help her through tricky problems. She was so caught up in her thoughts and questions, she hadnt heard someone come into her flat.

"Hermione?" the balcony door opened and Harry was standing right in the doorway. "Why did you leave so quickly?"

Hermione turned around to get a quick look at Harry then turned back around.

"Wow Harry, you think you could've knocked first before you just came in? I didnt give you and Ginny a key so you can barge in on me." she sounded very frusterated.

"I did knock, but you didnt answer." Harry had said very camly. "So why did you leave early?"

"I didnt want to ruin the night. You guys looked like you were having so much fun." Hermione had taken a sip of her tea then looked back at Harry who had taken the seat next to her.

Harry was looking at the wide, open field the balcony overlooked. He was trying to find the right way to tell her what had happened after she left. Not knowing what her reation would be made him wonder if he should tell her at all.

_Earlier that night..._

After Hermione had walked out of the pub doors, Malfoy kept his eyes focused on the entrance just hoping that she would walk back through. But he wasnt surprised when it never happened.

"Did you see Potter and his groupies out there dancing?" Blaise had taken a sip of his drink and finished his sentance "A bunch of fools, they are. But I didnt see Granger. Probably studying or reading. Such a know-it-all. No wonder she has hardley any friends anymore."

Draco was starting to get angry, but she knew he couldnt defend her like he wanted to. Even though he liked her a bit, he didnt want to be ridiculed. So he just kept his big mouth quiet and let them finish their conversation, which had obviously kept going on.

"I know right?" Pansy had added on. "I heard she spends all her time at work. She's probably never even been on a real date before. That must suck when no one wants to ask you out because they know your gonna be busy, no matter when it is."

"She dated a Weasley. They were probably too broke to go on a real date." Blaise had added in, causing Pansy to start to laugh. "They're idea of a date is burgers in a muggle restaurant." Pansy laughed a little harder at this comment.

Draco tried to change the subject away from Hermione as best as he could.

"Why does it matter what they do? Let them be poor." Draco had added in. "It doesnt concern us as to their personal lives. And as for Granger," he had trailed off before finishing his sentance "she's too busy being a bookworm to make her relationship last. Besides," he took a sip of his firewhiskey and continued "she was too good for the Weasel."

Blaise had looked at Draco with utter confusion, while Pansy was trying to figure out what Draco was looking at **or **looking for. She followed his eyes which had still been focused on the door across the room.

"Are you waiting for someone, Draco?" Pansy had asked Draco turning his head toward her with her hands.

"No. I'm just caught up in my own thoughts." He resonded back to her, while pulling her hand away from his face. He was looking into her eyes, but couldnt for more than 5 seconds. His head turned back to the front of him. Blaise had also noticed how distant he was from the conversation. Draco's eyes would travel from his glass of Firewhiskey to the door between songs.

Both Blaise and Pansy decided to leave a couple minutes later, leaving Draco in his thoughts. He had finished off his Firewhiskey when he noticed that Potter and a couple old men sitting at the bar were the only people left in the pub. Draco decided that he would get up the courage to walk over to the table Potter was sitting at alone and find out some information. He started to get nervous as his legs drew him closer. The last time they saw each other, they werent on good terms and didnt know if they still were. What could he possibly say to get Potters attention? Would he even talk to him?

Draco had finally made his way to the table at the back of the pub. Potter, who had a butterbeer in his hands, looked up to find the familiar blonde man he had once despised.

"Malfoy." Harry had said to him, offering a chair across from him with his hands. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Before Draco brought up anything about Hermione, he wanted to know what Potter had done with his wife. And also why all his friends had left, and he was sitting in the pub all alone.

"Potter." he had now taken the chair at the table and sat down. "Where did all your buddies go?"

"Well im sure you know Hermione went home." Just the sound of her name made Malfoys eyes open a bit. Harry looked up from his glass into Draco's eyes. They were sunken in, like he hadnt slept in weeks. His skin was very pale and looked very worn out next to the way it looked back in Hogwarts. He didnt expect him to look like the best looking guy ever, but this was nothing like he thought. "Ginny has to get up early in the morning to meet up with her mom and then the wedding planner. And Ron and Luna have to travel to Ireland to interview a wizard couple about their tragic story. Their parents had arranged their marriage, and they didnt even know about it until a month before the wedding. And after the wedding is when they actually fell in love. Ron hates the job, but its good money and he gets to work with Luna."

Harry had finally finishes telling Malfoy all about the other people and never brought up why he was still in the abr while everyone else left.

"And your still here why?" Draco had asked the question again.

"I spend everyday at the ministry of magic fileing paperwork for a job i never wanted in the first place to be able to pay for this grand wedding Ginny wants. And when i come home, she wants to go out to dinner, or sit by the fireplace and just talk, or she wants me to make dinner when she's home all day." Draco could tell he was getting frustrated just by telling him what was going on. "She doesnt understand that im tired and want to relax sometimes. So when we do go out, sometimes, she'll go home early and i'll stay out for a bit. Just for a little time away."

"I would have never picture you as a man who would settle down so early in life." Draco had now ordered another Firewhiskey from a man who came around and asked for drinks.

"I love Ginny, but its just too much sometimes. I wouldnt have done it if I didnt love her. I just didnt think it would happen so soon and so fast." Harry was now wathcing Draco as he took his Firewhiskey in his hands and took a big gulp.

Both Harrry and Draco felt very weird and kinda uncomfortable about how they were talking like they were friends. As the night went on, they just kept talking about how things have been since Hogwarts and whats happened. Both of the men have changed so much and neither were living the life they expected to live. Harry was engaged, working a boring job, and not pursueing his dream to be an Auror. Draco was living in a one bedroom apartment and unemployed. Lucky for him, he was living on his families money right now. But he got bored, and occasionally lonely. It took about an hour for Draco to be able to bring Hermione into the conversation.

"So what has Hermione been up to lately?" He asked. Harry had a very puzzeled look on his face but answered the question with no problem.

"She's training to be a healer at St. Mungo's. It keeps her busy most of the time, but when she does come out with us, its a good time." Harry had ordered a water a little while ago and started to drink it.

"I didnt think she wanted to be a healer. I would have seen her as a professor, as she like to learn and teach other people what she knows." Being a healer was not something Draco could of pictured Hermione as, as she seems to have alot of accidents that can badly affect her and other.

"It wasnt her first choice, but its a good job. She makes good money and helps people." Harry had looked at the clock and the wall, knowing it was time to go home. He then stood up from his chair and grabbed his jacket.

"I gotta get going, but maybe we can catch up another time." Harry even had a little smile on his face when he said this.

"I dont know about that. Were not meant to be friends." Draco had a sneer on his face that was obviously something he learned from childhood because he did it so well.

"Who said I wanted to be your friend?" Harry told him pretty seriously. "But obviously you have some interst in Hermione, so obviously im gonna give my opinion about it to her, you know."

"Fine. but can you tell her to meet me at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow at 3?" Hoping that Harry would deliver this message, Draco left without another word.

"He wants to meet up with me? What for?" Hermione had asked Harry, finishing up her cup of tea and putting it on a little table next to her.

"I dont know, but maybe you should go." Harry had now stood up and was starting to walk back into the flat to leave. He turned back to her and said "Do you think he has some kind of feelings for you? I mean I didnt even consider it until he started to ask alot of questions about you. Just go and see what happens."

In such a quick second, he was gone and she was left alone in her Flat once again. Now her thoughts were coming even more quickly and she didnt know what to do. She didnt know if she should go and talk to Malfoy.

She walked back into the Flat a couple minutes later and set her cup in the sink. She would do dishes in the morning. When she walked into her room, she grabbed the pajamas that were sitting on her bed and changed into the wool pants and top. She turned out the light on her bedstand, lifted the silky covers, and layed herself down for the night. She had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


End file.
